The entrepreneurial businessman George Pepperdine (1886-1962) created the automobile accessories mail-order sales company Western Auto Supply in Kansas in 1909. He sold part of his interests in 1916 and moved to California to establish the company Western Auto Supply of Los Angeles.
After the launch of Western Auto Supply in Los Angeles, Pepperdine commissioned an advertising agency in 1918 to create a character that would represent the company’s ideals. From the drawing table of commercial artist Robert Schuyler Van Rensselaer “Saving Sam” was created, the seller with an eternal smile, one hand in his pocket suggesting savings and another extended to provide service to the driver. On October 20, 1918 “Saving Sam” first appeared in an ad for the company when there were only five stores. The mascot later was present on roadside billboards, building facades, signs and in shop windows, as well as in catalogs and press advertisements. Eventually “Sam” made his way on to a huge electric sign above the company’s new headquarters at the corner of S. Grand Avenue and Eleventh Street in Los Angeles. At the time is was thought to be the largest electric sign West of the Mississippi.
As part of the celebration surrounding the opening of the new “Western Auto” headquarters building Mr. and Mrs. Pepperdine hosted the children from the Los Angeles Orphans’ Home on Monday November 5, 1923. Each child was presented a “Saving Sam” bank containing shiny new quarters. Before returning to the Home the children were taken for an auto ride to the beach where they were treated to ice cream and candy. During the Grand Opening the following day the couple also presented 400 “Saving Sam” banks to children when accompanied by adults between the hours of 4:00 and 6:00 PM.
At the time the new headquarters opened the chain had around 60 of their own stores distributed throughout seven states, and increased to 100 stores in 1924, 160 in 1928 and 200 in 1939. By the end of that year George Pepperdine had made the decision to sell his interests in the Western Auto Supply Company. The Gamble-Skogmo Company out of Minneapolis, purchased George’s controlling shares, freeing him to retire.
In February 1937, during the Great Depression, George Pepperdine founded the Pepperdine University as a Christian liberal arts college in the city of Los Angeles. He considered it wrong to build up a great fortune and use it selfishly. Pepperdine voiced his twofold objective for the college that bore his name, “First, we want to provide first-class, fully accredited academic training in the liberal arts … Secondly, we are especially dedicated to a greater goal—that of building in the student a Christ-like life, a love for the church, and a passion for the souls of mankind.
The Western Auto Supply Company continued to grow into the nationwide chain later known simply as Western Auto. At one point, there were over 1,200 company-owned stores nationwide, usually located in metropolitan areas, and more than 600 associate stores (private franchise “dealer” locations), usually located in small cities and towns. Western Auto was sold to Sears in 1987. Sears sold most of the company to Advance Auto Parts in 1998, and the merger led to the end of the Western Auto brand and its product distribution network by 2003.
Leave a Reply